The Air up There
by Mediancat
Summary: The day before Xander's birthday, Cordy and Angel come down to hunt down a monster . . . but is there another reason for their visit? Season 63.


Author's Note: This is actually the fourth in a series of birthdayfics I wrote  
about Cordelia's reaction to Xander's birthday. The other three, alas, are  
songfics, so I can't post them here.

This is another one of the fics I wrote years ago and have recently  
rediscovered.

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon created the _Buffy _and _Angel _characters.

X X X X X

They'd made her swear on half a dozen different gods that it was  
legitimate.

They'd made Angel swear the same thing.

And then, and ONLY then, had the Scooby Gang given permission to  
Cordelia and Angel to come anywhere within fifty miles of Sunnydale the  
day before Xander's birthday.

"But I still don't see why you need to come down," Buffy'd said. "I  
mean, we can take care of it ourselves."

"No, you can't," Cordy'd answered. "I don't get visions for you. I get  
them for Angel."

"Okay," the Slayer had answered. "But color me still suspicious."

"You can be orange with green polka dots, Buffy, but I'm still coming to  
Sunnydale."

And so they'd come. Buffy, Xander and Anya, plus the two LA visitors,  
were sitting or standing around the Magic Box while Cordelia explained  
her vision. It had been about some kind of flying creature – not a  
demon, she didn't think; it had looked like a vulture with a twenty-foot  
wingspan. It had been picking people up, carrying them off, and eating  
them.

There had been reports of a couple of mysterious disappearances in the  
area, but Buffy had assumed it had been vampires up to their old tricks  
(even though it had been a while since she'd actually FOUGHT a vampire.)

Anya said unexpectedly, "Hold on a second." Then she went to one of the  
bookshelves in front of the counter and brought it over. It was called  
"The Dictionary of Cryptozoology." She rapidly flipped through the pages  
until she flattened the book against the table. "This the monster you  
saw?"

It was a black and white drawing of something called a Thunderbird.  
Cordelia looked at it and said, "That's it, alright."

"We're fighting cheap booze?" Xander asked.

"No," Cordy said, "That's tomorrow." Xander started, and then grinned  
nervously at Anya.

Anya said earnestly, "Don't worry. I have a lot of expensive booze lined  
up." After a second. "Ripple is expensive, right?" Then at Xander's  
frantic look she just laughed.

"Well then," Xander said, sneaking glances at Anya to make sure she WAS  
actually kidding, "Let's take down this thunderbird and go party."

"What kills it?" Angel asked.

"Oh, anything," Anya said. "It's just a giant bird, it's not like it's a  
real monster or anything. I'm wondering if it's even fair to kill it."

"If it's a choice between the giant bird and people, the giant bird  
loses," Buffy said.

"No argument there," Angel said.

X X X X X

The giant bird lost.

Buffy and Angel stopped it from carrying off one of Dawn's classmates  
and then chased it back to its nest, which was somewhere in the  
foothills outside of town. Since there was no way Xander, Anya or  
Cordelia were going to be able to join in (it took all of Buffy and  
Angel's speed to even halfway keep pace with the thunderbird), they made  
sure the victim got safely home and then walked back to the magic shop.

Halfway there they were jumped by a vampire.

Xander immediately tried to jump in front of Anya and Cordy and was  
amazed to see Cordy leap to the attack and do a halfway decent job of  
fighting off the demon. Between the three of them, they managed to kill  
it in under a minute, with Anya stabbing it from behind while Xander  
grabbed its feet and Cordelia punched it in the face.

"You've been working out," Xander said admiringly.

"Thanks," Cordelia said, smiling. "And before you say anything, Anya, I  
don't want him."

"Wasn't even thinking it," Anya said in a tone that indicated she was  
but wasn't going to give Cordelia the satisfaction of saying so.  
"Beside, he's right. You HAVE been working out."

They didn't have to wait too long at the shop, although Buffy and Angel  
came in awkwardly carrying a bird's nest the size of a VW Bug. "The  
Thunderbird's dead," Buffy said. "Now the question is, what do we do  
with these things?"

And of course there were eggs in the nest. Eggs as big as sofa cushions,  
but eggs nonetheless.

"I'm thinking king-size omelets for breakfast," Xander said.

"What worries me is that if these things are fertilized that means  
there's a daddy out there somewhere," Angel said.

"Don't need to worry about him," Anya said. "Daddy thunderbirds are only  
about as big as condors. They couldn't carry off anything bigger than a  
small dog."

"Poodles of the earth, beware," Xander said.

"Still . . . the eggs . . ." Cordelia said.

X X X X X

In the end, they did a ritual to see if the eggs had been fertilized. To  
everyone's vast relief, they hadn't been; they'd had no idea where they  
were even going to get an incubator that size, much less find someone or  
something willing to sit on the eggs.

So Anya took one of them to use for a spell, Angel went out and  
destroyed a third, and Xander actually got his king-sized omelet the  
next morning.

He wasn't fully able to enjoy it, though, being kind of preoccupied with  
his last sight of Cordelia the previous night. After they'd completed  
the ritual they hung around and chatted and discussed recent adventures  
until around midnight.

"Why do we need to stay?" Angel'd asked Cordelia.

"With everything the Powers have put me through in the last two years  
they owe me one," Cordelia'd said mysteriously. "Just watch."

But whatever Cordelia wanted to have happen apparently hadn't by 12:15  
AM, and Angel wanted to get back to the Hyperion before he was a pile of  
ashes. So, a little disappointed, they said their goodbyes and began to  
walk out of the Magic Box.

Then, suddenly, Cordelia smiled. "Angel," she said, spinning to face the  
center of the store. "There's a group of vampires at Dodger Stadium.  
They plan to attack a tour group tomorrow morning." She looked up  
towards the heavens and muttered, "Thanks."

Buffy and Anya were pointing at her in disbelief, while Xander was a  
step away from fainting.

"What?" Cordelia asked, then looked down. "Oh, _that_. I'm part demon now.  
Didn't I tell you?" She grinned wickedly. "Happy birthday, Xander  
Harris."

"So THIS is why you insisted on coming down?" Angel said when Cordelia  
finally settled back onto the floor.

She pointed at Xander, who was still on the verge of nervous collapse.  
"Are you saying it wasn;t worth it?"

Angel started laughing. "Well, now that you mention it –"


End file.
